


okaeri

by randomwriter57



Series: makoharu week 2016 [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, M/M, i honestly don't know how to tag this one guys, i'm sorry i swear they're not all vignettes, is this technically vignettes again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 02:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8083915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomwriter57/pseuds/randomwriter57
Summary: Sometimes, Haru thinks Makoto is a nuisance.But then Makoto extends a hand to him, and he’s home.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [MakoHaru Week 2016](http://makoharuweek2016.tumblr.com), Day Two: Favourite Moment.

Sometimes, Haru thinks Makoto is a nuisance.

From the moment he asked Haru to join the swim club with him and refused if Haru didn’t join, to the first time Makoto reached his hand to Haru to help him out of the pool, Haru has wondered what Makoto’s deal is. Haru can get out of the pool himself. He still doesn’t even completely understand Makoto’s reasoning for not joining without Haru. It is an enigma, a part of Makoto still unsolved. Haru isn’t sure he’ll ever figure it out.

It continues. Day after day at practice, Makoto helps Haru out of the pool. The sight of that hand, spread open, beckoning him, becomes a normal occurrence.

When, in their first year of middle school, Makoto isn’t waiting at the end of the lane, Haru is worried. A constant which he has become accustomed to, has taken for granted, suddenly disappears. He is left with an empty space which used to be filled with warmth.

There are a few weeks, whilst they’re preparing for the middle school relay, that this happens. Haru tries to readjust to not having the hand that has always been extended to him. He hates himself for relying on it.

And then, when he finally encounters Makoto and the truth spills out, everything returns to normal. Swimming his length of the relay practice, he always finds Makoto at the end of the lane, extending a hand, telling him he did great. Once more, their routine is established, and life continues as usual.

But then Rin returns. Everything shatters. Haru quits the swim team. Makoto isn’t far behind him, though confused and in the dark about everything that happened. No longer does Haru see that hand, because he isn’t looking into the light. He’s facing away, shutting the world out, afraid of hurting again.

In his final year of middle school, Haru’s grandmother dies.

Haru doesn’t show up to school. He can’t. There is nothing left. No energy. He’s lost the guardian closest to him, hurt one of his best friends, forgotten another, and neglected his oldest companion. There’s no point in him going out, he reasons, so he stays in bed, or takes long baths, letting the water gradually grow cold around him and not getting out until his body forces him to.

It goes on for a couple of days before Makoto gets involved. He’s been to the door to see Haru a couple of times without an answer, leaving some food by his door like he did back in their first year. And just like then, it’s been building up in Haru’s fridge. He can’t muster the energy to eat.

One morning, he’s in the bath, staring at the ceiling, thinking. He feels like that’s all he does now. Think. If only his head wasn’t so full of thought. Or if only it would shock him into doing something. But nothing can shake him from this.

Until the back door opens. A voice echoes through the hall. The first door to the bathroom opens. Haru doesn’t bother to answer. At this point, he doesn’t care who it is. Finally, the person reaches the final barrier. They open the door.

“Haru? Haru!”

Makoto rushes to the side of the bath. Haru surfaces, shaking his wet hair out of his eyes. He looks over to Makoto, not saying a word, not needing to. Makoto knows what he’s thinking.

“Haru, don’t scare me like that.” Makoto sighs in relief.

As his eyes are closed, Haru notices the dark circles beneath them. Part of his brain registers them, wonders how long his best friend has been exhausted for. How he hadn’t noticed.

“This is where you were,” Makoto says, looking at the bath. “Aren’t you cold?”

Haru shrugs. His body is used to the temperature of the bath at this point.

Makoto sighs again, this time in exasperation. “Come on, you need to get some food.” He stands, offering a hand to Haru.

That hand, so familiar and yet so forsaken, strikes something within Haru. Instinctively, he takes it.

And he carries on.

Life goes on. Even though he feels empty, he continues to live. He completes middle school and goes to Iwatobi High School, walking a slightly different path to school alongside the same person, wearing a slightly less uncomfortable uniform. At least this one is easier to remove (much to Makoto’s chagrin). Some mornings, Haru forgets the time, lying in the bathtub, lost in thought. On those occasions, Makoto comes to his rescue, pulling him out of thought with that same hand.

First year is wholly uneventful, and their second begins in much the same way. The day after the opening ceremony, Makoto drags Haru to school, worried he wasn’t going to turn up after missing the day before. Haru was planning on showing up today anyway, relying on Makoto to tell him his class.

Then Nagisa shows up, and Haru’s life becomes a whirlpool once more. They reunite with Rin and the turbulence consumes him. Rin is completely different. Everything has changed in a few short years. It feels like the only constant is that hand which pulls him out of the tub, and later out of the pool once more, after they establish the swimming club.

That hand follows him through the next two years. It’s there for him even during his worst moments, when he doesn’t notice it there, trying to reach out to him, to help him. And in their final year, when things get to their worst, Haru at least knows at practice, he can still rely on that hand, being there to help him out of any situation.

Then the argument happens.

Makoto’s confession. I’m going to university in Tokyo. Leaving him behind. Alone. That hand, once extended, for too long forgotten, suddenly pulling away.

Haru runs home that night. He doesn’t bathe. Throwing off his clothes, he pulls some pyjamas on and falls into bed, curling into a ball. There’s a sour taste in his mouth, and the feeling of sorrow in his bones. For once, the water won’t help him. Not when there isn’t a hand there to help him out of it.

His mind runs riot with thought, reminding him how cruelly he spoke, how little he meant any of the words he said, how hurt Makoto must feel. Maybe that’s why Makoto’s leaving, Haru thinks. Without telling him.

Australia. It’s the last thing Haru expects. But suddenly he’s on a plane, shipped off to another country, as far away from Makoto as he can get right now. Somehow, he’s thankful.

He doesn’t pack his jammers.

But Rin shows him hope. Possibility. The thought that, maybe, being in such a small town, being so accustomed to life there, has made him weak-willed. He can’t stand the thought of change. Losing that seaside town and everything he knows and loves. But that’s a part of life. Rin’s been through it. Makoto’s chosen to go through it. And Haru will have to do the same. He realises that he can’t stay in Iwatobi forever. As much as the memories of their summer will be eternal, they can’t be high school students forever.

So he decides to swim. He’s going to swim in far-off places. New and exciting places. He’s going to experience all kinds of new things whilst still treasuring the things he loves, and his home in Iwatobi.

Returning is the worst part. As much as he wants to go back to his friends, he knows he will have to encounter Makoto. He’ll have to apologise. They’ll need to talk. And that scares him. He doesn’t want to lose Makoto forever.

But then they return. And at the airport, awaiting them, is Makoto.

_Haru_ , he says, his voice smooth and genuinely happy, _okaeri_.

And his heart swells, and he replies, _tadaima_.

Because maybe home isn’t a place. Maybe it’s a constant state of comfort, a hand reaching out into the depths, a lifeline.

 

Sometimes Haru thinks Makoto is a nuisance. He’s always getting Haru to do stuff, to talk to people, and he’s always worrying more about Haru than about himself.

But, as that hand extends to him at their final high school relay, extending up to eyes filled with tears of joy, sparkling with emotion, he knows better. As Haru takes the hand, he returns home.

**Author's Note:**

> Okaeri = welcome home. Tadaima = I’m home.
> 
> Follow me at [randomactuallywrites-57](http://randomactuallywrites-57.tumblr.com) on tumblr | [@randomwriter57](http://twitter.com/randomwriter57) on twitter!


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